


Collateral

by SoraMystic



Series: Re:Versed AU [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, and once again they're swearing oh dear, the interaction that never was
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:14:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23564359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoraMystic/pseuds/SoraMystic
Summary: The storm that was Marluxia died in the halls of Castle Oblivion. Taking the scene now are those who remain.
Series: Re:Versed AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1696072
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	Collateral

“Whew, he really went to town, huh?”, Axel mutters as he surveys the damage done during the fight against Marluxia. Broken pillars, smashed vases and craters of varying sizes litter the hallway, not a living soul left in the building.

Well, except for one.

“Axel”, a familiar voice calls.

Axel grins as Vanitas steps out of the Corridor, an Unversed slinking around his ankles. “Yo, Vanitas. Glad to see you’re still around. No hard feelings about this whole debacle, right?”

Vanitas glares at him and sighs. “I’m not as pissed as I probably should be, that’s for sure”, he admits. “And I think this is a clear enough warning to Te- Xemnas to stay the fuck out of my house. But that’s not why I wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh?”

“You’ve been keeping things from me, haven’t you?”, Vanitas asks.

Axel shrugs. “I’m keeping a lot of things from a lot of people, you’ll have to be more specific.”

“Ven’s heart.”

“What about it?”

“It was supposed to be with Sora”, Vanitas grumbles, hugging the canvas he’s carrying. “But it wasn’t. So where the hell is it?” The Unversed gives a little whine.

“It didn’t just- come flying back?”, Axel asks partially joking, earning him another glare.

“Funny. No, it didn’t. And I don’t get it. There aren’t any places for his heart to have gone to. Except for…”

_Uh-oh._

“-Sora’s Nobody of course.”

Immediately there’s the scent of something burning as Axel summons his chakrams. Vanitas smiles. “Got it one, did I?”

“Hey Vanitas, I’m not gonna lie, you seem like a really alright dude. Please don’t make me kill you”, Axel says, mind going a hundred miles a minute. He’s seen Vanitas’ powers.

He knows what he’d do for his brother.

Vanitas smiles even wider. “And now why would you want to do that? Unless… you actually care about Roxas? I mean, _truly_ care? Like, oh I don’t know-”

“Don’t fucking say it.”

“-feelings?”

Whatever Axel yells is lost to the sound of flames springing to life and him tackling Vanitas to the floor. The boy in question just laughs. “Why so short-tempered, Lea? I thought you didn’t feel anything! Why would you give a shit if I just send my Unversed and end-”

Axel brings up a chakram. “You better stop talking now.”

“Hmph. And you keep telling yourselves Nobodies don’t have hearts”, Vanitas says dryly. Despite being on his back, pinned down and with flames mere inches from his face, Vanitas doesn’t actually seem… worried. Or afraid.

As if he knows something Axel doesn’t.

“We don’t.”

“So why do you care then?! Don’t you ever ask yourself that? There’s only so much memories can do for you. Surely you’ve realized-!”

_FWOOSH!_

A flaming chakram buries itself into the floor next to Vanitas’ right ear. “Shut up”, Axel says.

“Are you just going to keep interrupting me every time I say something you don’t like?”

“Shut up.”

Vanitas scoffs. “Congratulations, you have feelings. Now deal with them like the rest of us.”

“I don’t-”

“OH, KNOCK IT OFF!!”, Vanitas suddenly shouts, startling Axel. “You can’t keep denying it, not when the mere insinuation of a threat aimed at Roxas was enough for you to attack me. Is it really so hard to believe that Xehanort might have _lied_ to you?!”

Eventually Axel stands. “…But if I… wait, so Roxas and I…”

“-are real friends, yes. Same goes for that girl Xion as well.”

Axel’s head snaps up. “You know about Xion?!”

Vanitas waves a hand. “This is my fucking castle, remember? Like I wouldn’t find out about Vexen’s… experiments”, he says.

“But getting back on topic.” He hoists himself up, dusting off his pants and picking the canvas back up.

“The reason you didn’t tell me was to keep him safe. But also…” He flips the canvas. It’s a picture of a blond boy with side-swept hair, blue eyes and a black coat. He looks happy. “You knew I wouldn’t do anything anyway if I knew about this, didn’t you?”

A wry smile creeps onto Axel’s face. “I’ll be honest, I hadn’t actually factored that in at all.”

“Yeah I noticed.”

Axel laughs at that. Vanitas snickers. He holds up the canvas. “He and Ven could practically be twins.”

“Like you and Sora?”

“Why do people keep saying that, we look nothing alike.”

Axel laughs again.

When he’s done, Vanitas says: “I won’t actually hurt Roxas. I just said that because I needed you to realize a few things.”

“Like having feelings?”

“For example”, Vanitas admits, then continues, quieter; “Me and Roxas, we’re in similar situations. Neither of us should ever have existed.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, back up for minute. Are you saying you’re a Nobody?!”, Axel exclaims.

Vanitas snorts and the Unversed hisses. “Right, you Organization people never actually gave a shit about who or what I was, only that I was convenient”, Vanitas says. “I’d say I have more in common with a Heartless. Darkness in a person’s heart made real and all that.”

“’Scuse me?”

“Every person carries some darkness. Ven… had a lot. Someone decided that could be used and separated us. And Axel? Be glad Larxene got her hands on Ven before I got mine on you lot.”

Vanitas’ shadow begins to bubble and creep up the wall opposite of them, a deep pool of black and void. And that pool stretches and stretches until it fills the entire hallway.

“It would have been messy.”

Then the shadow pulls back in on itself, and Vanitas smiles one of Ven’s smiles. “Keep Roxas safe okay? He carries Ven’s heart, I’d hate it if something where to happen to him.”

Once Axel remembers how to speak again, he says; “Uh, yeah, no- no problem...”

**Author's Note:**

> :)
> 
> (as always, come find me at the AU blog~)


End file.
